For my home gym I decided that I did not need 35 lb. or 15 lb. plates, and that I could get away with the following:
- One pair of 1.25, 2.5, 10, and 25 pound plates.
- Two pair of 5 pound plates.
- Three pair of 45 pound plates.
If I ever get strong enough to lift more than 405 pounds, then I will just get another pair of 45 pound plates.
I built an Excel sheet of how one could load the bar and quickly observed a repeating pattern.
Here is that table showing total weights (including a 45 pound barbell) from 45 pounds to 225 pounds:
Code:
45 25 10 5 2.5 Plate Wt. w/bar
0 45
1 5 50
1 10 55
1 1 15 60
1 20 65
1 1 25 70
1 1 30 75
1 1 1 35 80
1 2 40 85
1 2 1 45 90
1 50 95
1 1 55 100
1 1 60 105
1 1 1 65 110
1 1 70 115
1 1 1 75 120
1 1 1 80 125
1 1 1 1 85 130
1 90 135
1 1 95 140
1 1 100 145
1 1 1 105 150
1 1 110 155
1 1 1 115 160
1 1 1 120 165
1 1 1 1 125 170
1 1 2 130 175
1 1 2 1 135 180
1 1 140 185
1 1 1 145 190
1 1 1 150 195
1 1 1 1 155 200
1 1 1 160 205
1 1 1 1 165 210
1 1 1 1 170 215
1 1 1 1 1 175 220
2 180 225
I hope that you can see the repeating pattern.
Now, where ever you see 2 sets of 5 lb. plates being used, you should realize that can achieve the same plate weight by having two sets of 10 lb. plates.
For example:
If you want to add 40 pounds to the barbell, you can do it in the following ways using only 10 pound and 5 pound plates:
- One pair of 10 pound plates PLUS two pair of 5 pound plates
- Two pair of 10 pound plates
I decided to go with two pair of 5 pound plates and one pair of 10 pound plates since this approach is cheaper than one pair of 5 pound plates plus two pair of 10 pound plates.
I hope this made sense...